Protect Him
by hirobotiics
Summary: He took a deep breath in, his voice trembling. Wrenching his eyes shut in an effort to stop the tears and calm himself down, he tried with every fibre of his being to be brave. "We will kill him." / AU in which Tadashi doesn't save Hiro at the beginning of the movie. Hiro sneaks out to go bot fighting again. This time, he doesn't come back. Rated T for violence. One shot.


**TRIGGER WARNINGS: ****Descriptions of violence and pain, slight gore, mild threat, mentions of weaponry, kidnapping. Not intended to be slash, but it can be interpreted that way if you want.**

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><p>Heaviness seemed to have gripped his body as he rolled onto his back. His cheek, arm and leg on the left side of his body felt slightly numb and almost flat from the way he had been lying. His head still span. Ugh, this feeling...<p>

Suddenly, a sense of personalisation descended on him. Where the hell was he? The last thing he remembered was volunteering his new invention at another bot fight, despite his dumb brother's dumb protests, he was definitely gonna win this time, they wouldn't arrest him and he wasn't gonna get hurt... oh, god. He had done it, too! Absolutely crushed Mr Yama, too, with the classic newbie kid trick. He knew his Megabot would do the trick! Perhaps he'd got a little bit full of himself this time, though, because he'd done his fair share of mocking and gloating before he was chased out of the place by Yama's henchmen, cornered in a nearby alley and...

The startling remembrance made his heart lurch, and his eyes were open in mere seconds. Hiro ignored the dull ache of various parts of his body and lurched into a sitting position. Originally, he had thought that he was still lying in the alleyway where he had been beaten up, but-  
>"Ugh, my head..." He bowed his spinning, throbbing head and placed a hand on his right temple, where he could feel a tender lump beginning to form. That must have been where he was hit... He remembered feeling a white hot impact there just before he passed out. Someone must have knocked him out... damn it. When he got out of here, Tadashi was gonna kill him...<p>

Where was he again? Oh, right- though he had thought he was still on the streets of San Fransokyo, he had mistaken the concrete floor of... wherever he was now, for the cold, cracked pavements tucked away in the smallest crevices of the otherwise pristine and beautiful city. This definitely wasn't the outdoors- it was way too cold in here, did they have coolers in here or something? Not to mention that it was so dark, and anyone who lived in this place knew that the city never slept. Wherever you went, there was always light, all day, all night. This had to be inside somewhere, where there were no lights... what the heck?

Uneasily, Hiro looked ahead again and clambered to his feet. He was a little shaky, but he refused to let the pain beat him. It was just a few bruises, he could take that. Besides, getting out of here was probably a breeze. If he knew bot fighters as well as he thought, they'd probably scrammed back to wherever they came from already, or were arrested, and his attackers had probably just thrown him in here to keep him hidden, conceal all the evidence and stuff. They weren't stupid enough to hang about, or just leave him lying around in the streets in this state and reveal their location. If he just went home and acted cool, Tadashi wouldn't even guess that he'd gotten into a fight. He'd just have to be careful about what he wore and did around his brother for a couple of weeks, just to let the bruises die down, then he'd never know. The older boy would just scold him for doing illegal stuff, like he always did. Yeah, he was going to be fine. He had it all planned out.

With a slight wince, he began to edge his way into the darkness. The more his eyes began to adjust to the lack of light, the more familiar his surroundings seemed- this was one of the back rooms of the building where the bot fight had been held. It was eerily quiet in here, the sound of his slightly off-rhythm breath being the only thing he could hear besides the light whirr of... fans. Of course. No wonder it was so cold. And... it was so empty in here. He wondered why these back rooms were even here. Of course, this _was_ just some old abandoned warehouse or something, just done up a little bit to make it more interesting for bot fighting. There probably would have been a use for this room at some point, when it was still owned by a company.

A bellowing chorus of laughs burst out from somewhere in front of him; even though it was muffled, as if it was coming from another room, it scared the life out of him, yet he could only gasp as he flinched a little. Someone was in there... but why? Did they know he was in here? Maybe he could get their attention and they'd help him get out. They couldn't be bot fighters, they wouldn't be stupid enough to stay for this long, right?  
>Now he could hear people talking. In raised voices, they chattered away about something that clearly amused them, although the words didn't register with him, and it wasn't like he'd get the joke if they did. At this point, he was starting to get a little bit more nervous. If there was others here, then his escape plan became a little more complicated.<p>

"Uh..." Hiro reached out in front of him and began to take slower, more timid steps forward. He had been walking for a while now, he must have reached the other end of the room, right? Sure enough, after about three more steps, he felt his fingers touch a smooth and cool surface. Was that... metal? Of course, it must have been a door. Perfect- this way, he could just walk out, creep past whoever was in there, and go home. All he had to do was just carefully pull the handle-

The door simply rattled as he tried to push it. What...? All that laughing in the next room cut short, and he knew he had been heard, so this time, he didn't bother trying to be quiet. At a slowly increasing rate of force and speed, he started wrestling with the door, to the point where he was putting all of his weight into it, and still it wouldn't budge. The whole time, he could hear the strangers gradually escalating into a fit of cruel chortling, presumably at his misfortune. That just made him more irritated, and he gave up, but not before kicking the door in frustration. "Ugh!"

Still, whoever was in the building with him was in hysterics now, and so, growing impatient with their games, he thumped on the door with his fist. "Hey! Stop laughing at me and get me outta here!"  
>The deepest, most booming voice out of all of them shocked him when it stopped sniggering and spoke. "No."<br>Hiro paused. "Mr Yama...?" Of course... it all made sense. The guy was mad that he had been shown up by a kid, and so was keeping him locked in here! Both determination and dread overtook him at that revelation, but he held firm. "C'mon, man, you gotta let me out! Are you really gonna kidnap me 'cause of some dumb bot fight? Is this all because I beat you?!"

Complete silence fell. Hiro could feel the tension in the air, thick and heavy on the world around him. Something wasn't right. He must have said something wrong, and struck a chord with one of them. That made him feel rather uneasy. It was like waiting for a bomb to go off, knowing it was going to explode in his face, but he had no idea when.  
>All of a sudden, he heard purposeful, earthquake-inducing strides being taken across the room beyond, and before he had a chance to react, the door was rammed open, knocking him onto his back, dazing him a little, rendering him useless for a few seconds and leaving him staring helplessly into the livid face of his captor.<p>

Mr Yama's thick, black eyebrows were furrowed deep into his beady little eyes as he roughly grabbed a fistful of the boy's hair and yanked it, forcing him to sit up and look him square in the face. "You think you're clever, huh? You think you've beaten me?" Something between a smug grin and a bitter sneer flickered in and out of his already rather unpleasant expression, and he suddenly slammed his hand down, sending his captive plummeting face first into the ground.

Grunting in pain, Hiro tried to struggle free. However, when he was in this vulnerable position, one of Yama's men saw the opportunity haul his arms behind his back, and tie his wrists with what felt like rope. Where that came from, he hadn't a clue, but as soon as he was tied up there, he felt the same thing happen to his ankles.  
>Once he was released, the boy writhed, looking up at Yama with pure hatred. He could make him out against the dim light flooding in from the open door; his large frame, his signature blue jumpsuit, and his smirking face that reminded him of nothing more than a petty bully. "You'll never get away with this..."<p>

The goon- he mentally corrected his previous mistake of thinking she was a man- mockingly repeated his words in a nasally, squeaky tone, then cackled at him. "Nice try, loser. You ain't going nowhere."  
>That just seemed to make Mr Yama's smirk wider. "You can come out when you've learnt your lesson," he teased. After that, he somehow rather ominously, yet pathetically arrogantly turned away and left alongside the woman.<br>"W-wait!" Hiro's survival instinct kicked in and he began to try and wriggle to the door before it could close on him, despite the very low chances of him actually making an escape. "What lesson?! I didn't _do_ anything! Come back-!"

It was too late. The door slammed in his face.  
>"Damn it...!" he muttered under his breath, then did the only thing he knew how to in order to get out of here, and that was to just yell. Shout loud enough, and hopefully, someone would hear and come and rescue him. Perhaps Tadashi would even come and bail him out, if he happened to be in the area. Even over his own hollering, he could just hear his brother's words now;<br>_You okay? You're not hurt? Then what are you doing out here, bonehead?!_

That unlikely fantasy of his heroic big brother getting him out of this one kept him screaming for hours and hours; not necessarily for help, although that came up sometimes. He just said anything and everything, just praying that this nonsense would get him heard, but it was a hopeless cause. After a long while, his voice had just become hoarse and weak, and had near enough completely disappeared. Having not slept properly in several hours also left him physically exhausted, and he was starting to lose the will to resist as his body gradually shut down. All the while, the voices outside had just carried on as if they couldn't hear him at all, perhaps just to encourage him to lose his spirit. Yama and his grimy old pals were messed up...

An exhausted Hiro slumped onto the solid floor. It didn't feel cold against his skin anymore. He was just numb all over. Both his arms and legs hurt from struggling, and he was physically and mentally exhausted now the adrenaline had faded. What had he gotten himself into this time...? Why were they doing this to him? Were they that twisted that they had kept a kid locked up in the dark for hours just because he destroyed their bot? He should have listened to Tadashi... getting mixed up in this stuff was careless of him. Challenging thugs and criminals to fights, even if it _was_ just with lumps of metal, even if he was _sure_ he was going to win, was an idiotic thing to do.

Now he felt like dirt, or maybe something even lower than that. Not only had he gotten himself into trouble, his brother was probably looking all over for him, and would have been for hours, slowly getting himself into a worse state of anxiety. As for Aunt Cass, she would have noticed he was gone by now. He hadn't made the swift transition in and out like he had planned; she would have known something was up by now, and was probably frightened out of her mind, too. Why had he been so damn cocky?! If he hadn't been so big-headed and ignorant, maybe he wouldn't be-

A door opened somewhere far away. "Hiro?"  
>Hiro was suddenly alerted by that. Tadashi... He was here! Oh, he knew he'd find him eventually!<br>"Beat it, kid," Mr Yama spat, and the tone of voice he spoke in made Hiro quite angry. How dare he speak down to Tadashi that way! "Show's over. You missed the fight."  
>"Oh, no- I wasn't here for that." Tadashi spoke in an animated, but fairly calm tone. "I'm looking for my little brother, Hiro. I've been lead to believe he came here. Have any of you seen him?"<p>

There was a short silence, nearly long enough to raise suspicions in Hiro's mind. Then he heard a new voice speak, one he hadn't heard before. "Listen, little man. I'm not sure if you know how we operate here, but kids don't get in easy. If he even got through the doors, he's long gone now."  
>Oh, no... No, no, Tadashi couldn't leave him here! Desperately, he tried to scream, yelling for his brother. It wouldn't come out, though, not now that he had lost his voice. All he could muster up was a hoarse whisper. He fought to escape the ropes- if his voice wasn't going to work, his limbs would. That didn't work, either. All that achieved was rope burn on his limbs, and even more fatigue.<p>

"Oh... okay. Well... sorry to bother you. I'll just be... going now." He sounded a bit distant, as if confused by something.  
>"<em>Tadashi, no!<em>" Now Hiro was becoming extremely distressed. "_I'm here! Don't leave, I'm right here! Tadashi! TADASHI!"_  
>"Whatever. Don't make this any longer than it needs to be." The woman from before spoke with great disdain, and it had her voice suspiciously raised. A few seconds later, the door shut again, and Hiro fell apart.<p>

"No... _no!_" He began to break down. Hot tears came streaking down his face and his breath rattled out of his control, and he just let his body fall loose again. This was hopeless... he wasn't ever going to get out now. Tadashi was gone- who else was going to look for him? Aunt Cass was too busy with the café, and wasn't as competent as her eldest nephew, especially not, he could imagine, in front of thugs like these. Aside from her, he had no other family left, so what hope did he have of getting out of here? The only thing he could count on now was that they were going to set him free at some point. What would they gain out of keeping him here forever? They'd let him go eventually, right? Who was he kidding...

Through his hysterical sobs, he barely even noticed the door open, or a large shadow engulf him. Still, he managed to, and weakly angled his head to look up at his captor.  
>Yama smirked down at him. "Well, would you look at that... Big brother's trying to save you, huh?" There was an outburst of laughter behind him. "Well, he ain't gonna find you anytime soon. But he could be of some use to us..."<br>"Don't you dare hurt Tadashi!" he croaked, the boiling anger overflowing. With the last burst of energy he could muster up, he yanked at his bonds and tried in vain to break free. All that earnt him, though, was a harsh kick in the stomach, causing him to choke and curl up.  
>"Shut up."<p>

That was the last thing he heard that night before the door slammed. Then came an electronic buzz, presumably the half-broken lights outside switching off, followed by the chilling noise of voices growing fainter and a final closing of a faraway door. After that, he was left in the complete darkness and haunting silence, wounded, shattered and alone.

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><p>Hiro had no idea how long he was kept there for. Days, maybe even weeks. Each day just dragged on for so long that he wasn't sure anymore. He tried to judge by the amount of bot fights he heard going on just outside the door, but he lost count after a while. No matter how hard he did or didn't try, he couldn't get anyone's attention; even if he could, no one would let him out, and Yama and his henchmen (and women) would probably beat him senseless if they caught him trying to escape, so what was the use? All he could do was sit, wait and hope. Hope they would free him soon, and hope they were just bluffing and weren't going to involve Tadashi in this.<p>

It wasn't until one night, just after the last people had left from another bot fight, that the door was opened again. He didn't look up. He was absolutely starving, weak as anything, and he didn't want to give them the satisfaction of knowing he had caved in. Even defying them in little ways, like refusing eye contact, was enough to keep shreds of his dignity.  
>Someone grabbed the back of his shirt and began to painfully drag him outside. He didn't care who it was- he was just hoping that this was his ticket to freedom. Maybe they had finally decided that enough was enough and were going to let him go...<p>

"Hiro! How kind of you to join us," Yama mocked, and Hiro gave him a tearful, bitter glare. "We've finally decided what to do with you."  
>He was about to talk back, but bit his tongue when he noticed what the man was holding; a tattered piece of paper, and a mobile phone with a red case, as well as various keyrings hanging off it. "My phone..."<br>"That's right! Now, let's see... who have we got here?" His fat, sausage-like thumb repeatedly swiped the screen upwards, as if scrolling through something. "Oh... perfect." He tapped something.

"What are you doing?!" he demanded. "Let go of that!"  
>Completely ignoring him, Yama crouched down and held the two objects up to Hiro's face. "I'm going to call someone. When they answer, I want you to read what's on this piece of paper, and <em>only<em> that. You say anything else..." He motioned to his henchmen, who stood in a semicircle behind him, all in a very powerful stance, as if ready to attack. That left Hiro with no choice but to turn back to the large man in front of him and simply nod, staring straight at the paper with a stoic face while the call began. That made the words quite hard to read, though, since most of his focus was going into looking brave rather than what he had to say.

"Hello, Tadashi speaking," came a somewhat cheerful, but mostly rather calm, tired, almost bored-sounding voice. All of that almost seemed forced in itself, though. "How may I help you?"  
>Hiro's heart skipped a beat as he heard his brother's voice again. "Ta... Tadashi..." He groaned in pain as he felt a harsh force whack into the small of his back.<br>Tadashi's cool facade immediately shattered. "Hiro! Hiro, oh my god- Aunt Cass! Damn it- Hiro, where are you?"

Now he didn't dare step another toe out of line. Tears were starting to blur his vision, but he did his best to read what was on the paper in front of him. "As... as you hear this... we are h-holding your b-brother captive."  
>"What? Hiro, what the hell are you-"<br>"We want money," Hiro interrupted, his voice slightly raised in order to have Tadashi hear him. "A-as much as you can bring... If..." He sniffled and let the tears start to run down his face. "If you d-don't arrive within the next th-thirty minutes when we end the call, we will... w-we will..."

Horror had struck him, so much so that he was struggling to even speak the next few words. His jaw hung open as he tried to get his head around what he was being forced to say.  
>"What, Hiro?! What are they going to do to you?!" Tadashi sounded frantic.<br>He took a deep breath in, his voice trembling. Wrenching his eyes shut in an effort to stop the tears and calm himself down, he tried with every fibre of his being to be brave. "We will kill him."

There was an agonising silence. That said it all- he could feel his brother's petrified state through the phone itself. "... H-Hiro..."  
>"Call the cops, and we'll- we'll m-make you s-sorry... Y-you have... thirty minutes." He finished off in a defeated tone of voice. The last thing he heard of his brother was the beginning of his attempts at encouraging him, consisting mainly of <em>'I'm coming'<em> and _'don't worry'_ and _'I won't let them hurt you, I promise'_. After the sounds of footsteps and the young man calling Aunt Cass once again were heard, the line went dead. Yama had hung up. Hiro's eyelids drooped and he hung his head, heaving a heavy sigh. Oh, god. What the hell was going on...? So that was what they had wanted Tadashi for...  
>At least they weren't hurting him.<p>

The wait was physically painful. He knew his brother was going to come. It was just a matter of when. After waiting for about five minutes, one of the goons yanked his hair, forcing his head back to expose his neck. Hiro could now only look at the ceiling, and his watery eyes widened as he felt a sharp blade lightly rest against his throat. "H-hey, slow down! It's not too late yet!"  
>"Quiet, brat," the man hissed, locking one hand around his waist and pulling him back against the other's body. "We're not killing you yet. It's a precaution."<p>

All the while, there was an empty silence all around the room. Hiro was barely breathing, afraid that any sudden movements may result in him having a knife deep in his neck. Out of his peripheral vision, he could see Yama occasionally check the time on his phone, then grunt in mild frustration and turn to watch the door again. That seemed to be where everyone's gaze was, although everyone seemed to look around at one another every now and again, as if suspicious or on edge. In his case, he was just afraid that someone was going to make a sudden movement and frighten him, resulting in a severe neck injury, possibly death.

Gradually, he moved his head down slightly to allow himself to look forward, rather than just up. Now his nerves were starting to act up. Where the hell was Tadashi?! This was so bad. He had no idea how much time had passed. If he didn't arrive before the half an hour was up, then-  
>The sound of a motorbike came flying into earshot, much faster than it probably should have been. Its engine stayed running as a fearful-looking Tadashi burst through the door.<p>

Hiro had his heart in his mouth as he felt the grip around him tighten, and he watched his brother fish desperately into the bag he was carrying, taking out huge wads of cash, as many as he could manage to hold in two hands. The guy was gasping for breath, but whether that was because of fear or breathlessness, he didn't know.  
>"How much do you want?! I'll give you anything, just take it all if you have to! Just... don't hurt Hiro..." Tadashi turned to his brother, swallowing hard. Hiro stared right back with his bottom lip quivering as he tried desperately to stay composed. Despite being on the verge of tears, he gave his brother a reassuring look, or at least, the best one he could manage at this point. Everything had to be okay now... It <em>had<em> to be.

As Yama strode over to Tadashi, the latter desperately dropped everything he had on the floor; the money he had in his hands, as well as the entire contents of the bag, which was all dumped in a pile at his feet, and the bag itself. "It's _all_ yours," Tadashi told him a pleading tone. "Take whatever you want. Whatever you do, just-"  
>"Shut <em>up<em>!" Yama barked, snatching up one of the wads and flicking through it to see what notes they contained. He must have been pretty impressed by it, as, after he picked up the bag to throw it back at Tadashi, he spoke in a greedy tone of voice. "We'll take all of it."

Hiro kept waiting to be released as he watched the money getting shovelled up by all the henchmen except the one he was being held back by. Immediately, he felt like something was wrong, and made eye contact with his brother, who looked equally as concerned. Neither of them seemed to want to say anything, though, instead waiting for the youngest Hamada's captor to release him, and for the two of them to be allowed to leave.  
>To the pair, it seemed like forever, but it really didn't take very long until all the money was picked up and placed somewhere out of either brother's reach. Still, nothing seemed to happen.<p>

"Um... Sir, we had a deal." Tadashi's voice was firmer now. "You said you were going to let Hiro go if I paid you."  
>Yama rose an eyebrow cockily. "Did I? I said we wouldn't<em> kill <em>him if you paid us. I never mentioned anything about letting him go."  
>Hiro's face contorted in both terror and anger, and he glanced helplessly at Tadashi, who stared back at him with dread all over his face.<br>"Take him away, boys."

"No!" Hiro felt the knife move away from his throat, but, not long after, his collar was grabbed again. For the thousandth time in god knew how long, he tried to set himself free, even through the restraints of the ropes. "Tadashi! Help!"  
>"<em>Hiro!<em>" Tadashi looked horrified and made a move to start chasing after them, only to have the blade his younger brother had just been threatened with held to his chest. Hiro could see the inner turmoil on his older brother's face, but it eventually resulted in a scowl of determination as, with unexpected bravery and strength, he tackled his opposer to the ground.

That was when Hiro's vision was obscured by people standing in the way, just before he was picked up and physically thrown back into his prison of a room. An all too familiar voice screamed in agony, and when the door did not slam before him, and he caught sight of his bleeding brother on the ground, his worst fears were confirmed.  
>"<em><strong>TADASHI!<strong>_" Hiro choked out, once again trying to wrestle himself free, but it was too late. "Tadashi... no, _no_..."

Tears swam in his vision again and threatened to pour down his face. A deep scarlet pool was starting to form beneath his brother, staining his clothes and leaking out onto the concrete. This- this wasn't happening. It couldn't be... "... Ta...dashi...?" he murmured, although it was so silent now that his voice echoed throughout the room.  
>The door slammed in his face. Shell shocked, he kept staring at the exact same spot, where his brother would be if there wasn't a wall in the way. He was still in a state of disbelief, and all he could hear was his heart pounding in his ears.<p>

Without warning, there was a thunderous clang against the door, along with a young man's grunt of effort, followed by a whole lot of fuss from the henchmen. It had frightened Hiro half to death, snapping him out of his trance, and his breath hitched every now and again as he watched the door open once again. He expected to see Yama, or one of his stooges; however, who he saw relieved him.  
>"Tadashi...?"<br>The older boy stood in the door, panting lightly. A huge wound in his shoulder was gushing out blood, but it seemed like he had pulled the knife out himself, as it was now in his hand. Behind him, Yama was on the floor, and unconscious, with a harsh blow to the head evident by the red patch on his forehead.

"Hiro..." Tadashi's troubled expression melted into one of relief, and he rushed to help his little brother, then began sawing vigorously at the ropes that bound him until he was free to move. Immediately after, he tossed the weapon aside and pulled Hiro into an embrace, and the latter welcomed it.  
>"Oh, Hiro... you got me panicking, bonehead..." Relief and affection dripped off each word. One hand held his smaller body close by the small of his back, while the other tangled in his dishevelled hair and rested his head against his chest.<br>"T-Ta-Tadashi...!" Hiro whimpered. That was all he could say right now, as he was interrupted by his own crying. He leaned his forehead against Tadashi's shirt and let it all out.

It didn't stay that way for long, though. The comfort of his brother's embrace didn't come close to lasting long enough for Hiro; it seemed like mere seconds later when Tadashi pulled away and wrapped him up in his jacket, which was way too big for him. "C'mon, Hiro. We're going home."  
>He couldn't help grinning toothily through his tears. Nodding, he furiously wiped away his tears on one of the huge sleeves, then rolled it back to take Tadashi's hand and run for it.<p>

"Hey! Come back!" someone yelled as the brothers passed the henchmen, who were all kneeling over their outcold ringleader. With surprising coordination and balance, the lot of them flew to their feet and began chasing after them.  
>"Faster, Hiro!" Tadashi dragged him outside, where the motorbike still lay in wait, rumbling away. He shoved the helmet into Hiro's hands.<br>"What?! Tadashi, you knucklehead, you gotta-"  
>"Damn it, Hiro, we don't have time for this, just put it on!" the older of the two boys ordered. He swung one leg over the motorbike and hoisted himself on with ease.<p>

Doing as commanded, Hiro shoved the helmet on and fiddled to buckle it up. All the while, the henchmen were gaining on them, which made him more frantic.  
>"Quickly, Hiro!"<br>At last, he managed to fasten it tightly in place and threw himself onto the bike, just as the crooks were about to catch up with them. In the same movement, he wrapped one arm tightly around Tadashi, the other pointing forward. "Drive!"

The motorcycle roared into action, and as Hiro watched over his shoulder, he just managed to notice a bunch of bank notes with tiny legs crawling all over his former captors, all of whom were now flailing everywhere like idiots to try and get them off. Then they were out of sight, and he took a moment to catch his breath and come down from his adrenaline high as the world whizzed by him. He was safe at last... all thanks to his brother.  
>The only thanks he could give right now was affectionately resting his head against his back, but he could sense the smile on his sibling's face.<p>

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><p>Aunt Cass must have heard them coming, because she had burst straight out of the café door before Tadashi even had the chance to pull up, and as soon as she saw the state the two of them were in, she screamed a blood-curdling scream. Before they could even greet her, both of them were being tugged inside by their sleeves with an angry mother-figure yelling and making a scene, as was starting to become common. Hiro could see Tadashi's grimace of embarrassment, and he saved himself the humiliation of seeing the customers' gobsmacked looks by tipping the bike helmet over his eyes and keeping his focus on his feet.<p>

Mere minutes passed, and already, an ambulance had arrived. Tadashi was soon hurried off to get his shoulder sorted, and Hiro insisted on coming, not wanting to leave him, but both the eldest Hamada brother and Aunt Cass insisted that he should stay at home and take care of himself, especially since the medical experts had confirmed that the only injuries he had were bruises, and he would need to get some food into his body to return to normal health. As such, he found himself reluctantly staying behind, tucked away in bed in warm pyjamas, shovelling ice cream into his mouth with Mochi curled up and purring against his leg. Cass always spoiled them when they got sick or injured, and now was no exception.

Groaning, Hiro slumped against his pillow, which was propped up against the headboard of his bed so that he could sit up comfortably. He was glad to be home, but he wanted Tadashi to come back already... He still needed to thank him properly. Admittedly, he took his brother for granted, always waltzing straight into danger and expecting to be bailed out. This time, he'd taken it a step too far, which was why he also wanted to apologise, just to clear things up, and try to make it up to him.

Not long after thinking this, he heard Tadashi's voice downstairs as he entered the café again. It was all closed up now, a little bit earlier than usual due to the night's events, and so it wasn't hard to hear the conversation that ensued; Cass fussing relentlessly over the young man, who kept brushing her off and insisting that he was fine, and that he just wanted to go and check on his little brother. Hiro smiled a bit at that; even though he had every right to be livid at him for sneaking out despite the warnings and getting himself into really serious trouble, he still wanted to come and check on him.

Soon enough, footsteps ascending the stairs became audible, and Hiro was scraping the last traces of ice cream out of the tub as Tadashi walked in.  
>"Hey there, little man." He gave a warm, affectionate smile as he walked over, reached out and ruffled his hair. "How are you feeling?"<br>"Okay..." Hiro shrugged a bit, placing the tub to one side, moving the cat (to his displeasure) and shuffling up to give Tadashi space to sit down. He waited until he had done so before speaking again.

"Listen, I-I wanted to apologise for sneaking out," the younger brother murmured awkwardly, humbled by his own display of weakness. "A-and for, you know, thinking you'd be around to save me all the time... and making you go all the way out there to save me... and- mmph!" He was forcefully shut up by having a spoon put into his mouth, and he hummed in enjoyment at the taste. It was then he noticed that Tadashi was holding a bowl of one of his favourite recovery foods. Sticky toffee pudding... delicious.  
>Tadashi chuckled. "Don't worry about it. The bright side of all this is that you've learned your lesson." He pulled the spoon out of Hiro's mouth to let him chew and swallow, and took to scooping up more of the dessert.<p>

"But I also wanna say thank you... If you didn't come and save me, I don't know what Yama would've done."  
>"Don't mention it. It's a big brother's job to keep his little brother safe, <em>especially <em>when he's a doofus like you." Holding up the spoon, Tadashi cooed mockingly, as if talking to a baby. "Here comes the choo choo train! Open wide, baby boy."  
>"Tadashiii!" Hiro whined, trying to push his hand away, but in the end, his longer-armed and stronger brother managed to win him over. The spoon was popped into his mouth and he almost immediately swallowed to allow himself to talk. "I'm trying to be serious here."<p>

"Look. Hiro. I forgive you. Okay? You're young, you're stupid. I was just the same when I was your age."  
>"Wow, thanks, Tadashi," he muttered sarcastically. "That makes me feel a <em>lot <em>better."  
>Tadashi looked quite pleased with himself and shuffled so that he was sitting beside his brother. "What I'm trying to say is, it wasn't your fault."<br>"If you say so..." There was a moment's silence, and then he finally spoke again.  
>"By the way- the money bots were a nice touch. Where'd you get those, anyway?"<br>"Stole them from the lab."  
>"<em>Nice.<em>"


End file.
